Battery life on older iPods

[zapod]

I've seen a few queries on this forum regarding the long-term battery life of the iPod and so I decided to try a full test today using my November 2001 Gen 1 5Gb pod.

This iPod sees moderate use and is frequently found in a discharged state, usually because it has been lying around for a couple of weeks since it's last full charge. This is not a problem, because iPod is always drawing current from the battery, even when off, like a sleep mode. Anyway, I digress. What I'm saying, is that I'm no saint when it comes to maintaining the battery.

So it came as some surprise today to find, after fully charging the unit overnight, and choosing to playback the entire library, that the iPod managed to keep playing for 10.5 to 11 hours non-stop. This was using about 2/3 the volume on Sony EX70 earbuds. The backlight was not used at all during the test.

Of course, this isn't representative of how the iPod is actually used daily, but over that time the HD must spin up over 30 times, so that gives you an idea of the kind of usage the battery is expecting.

I hope that allays any fears about iPod's longevity - I fully expect to get another couple of years at least out of mine... unless I upgrade to a Gen 3 which is what I really want

Zapod

 

[noryen]

Thanks zapod, it's good to hear that the battery life should be reliable.

By the way, how did you know it stopped at 10~11 hours? Did you listen to it the whole time?

 

[zapod]

I started it at work at 8.30am, put the earbuds in a drawer so they wouldn't annoy me, then took it home at the end of the day. I last checked it about the 10hr mark, just after 6.30pm... then I went to prepare dinner...

At 7pm it had died... like I said it wasn't a 'real world' test, but I found it pretty surprising considering the age/abuse that the battery has received.

Zapod

 

[Jeff]

I tend to keep my Gen 1 10GB plugged up each night but it runs nearly constantly during the day 8+ hours with charge left when I head for home. I've certainly not seen the charge drop-off that some have experienced.